Urban sniper

An 'urban sniper' is a term applied to a sniper operating in an urban area or city setting.

An urban sniper’s role is most commonly providing over watch and cover fire for ground troops or providing over watch for law enforcement SWAT teams.

Camouflage

An urban sniper’s camouflage is much different from that of a regular sniper. Instead of trying to break up the outline of the human body by using something like a ghillie suit an urban sniper is trying to blend into the many angles of a city, since a city is mostly comprised of angles and straight lines. Another difference in the camouflage clothing is that snipers are generally wearing clothes that are earth tone whereas urban snipers prefer grey and black shades to better blend in with the shadows.

Another piece of the camouflage element besides clothing is cover and concealment; In other words where the sniper hides. Urban snipers, when deciding where to set up must choose in advance whether they want a ground level shot or a high-angle shot. If they choose ground level they will want to find something large and solid to take cover and hide behind such as a parked automobile, cable box, power box, ground floor window, etc. If they choose a high-angle shot they will want to choose a position on a roof, in a chimney, in an upper story window, in an attic, etc.

Furthermore, when the urban sniper takes their position, they want to choose a place that does not stand out. For example they would ‘’not’’ want to sit on the roof of the only yellow house in the neighbourhood or hide behind a bright red sports car.

Equipment and Weaponry

In some cases weapons used by snipers work in an urban area however in many cases they do not. One of the dangers of urban sniping, especially law enforcement sniping, is that they may miss, the bullet may penetrate the target and exit the target, and hit an innocent bystander or hostage. Thus weapons used by military snipers like the M82 Barrett rifle with armor piercing rounds, that can punch a hole in an armored tank the size of a fist from half a mile away would not be suitable for taking out a target in a city from maybe only 100 meters away.

Weapons an urban sniper are more likely to use include:

Tactics

When shooting from a window an urban sniper wants to consider several things. The first of which is that if there is the possibility of multiple targets or return fire they want to confuse the enemy as to their position. If they're shooting out of a hole in the wall or a hole in a boarded up window put multiple holes in the window and in the surrounding windows as well.

Furthermore, when shooting from a window for concealment the sniper wants to be as far back in the room as they can be. There is little more obvious a sign than a rifle barrel sticking out of a window. Also, when they do fire, because they are further from the window, much more sound will echo and deflect away before leaving the room, making the shot sound, to the enemy, as if it is coming from further away.

When sniping, it is generally advisable to set up somewhere comfortable such as sitting at a table or lying on a bed. Sometimes they stalk a single target or cover a single area for hours at a time.

Before executing the mission they should have an escape plan and rendezvous point with the rest of the team. If the enemy finds out where they are after firing from a building, they may need to fight their way out of the building.